Eternal Flame Falls
PlacesChestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, New York, USA · OngoingExplained
Behind a small waterfall near Buffalo, a flame burns in a rock grotto, sometimes for most of the year.
What was reported
In Chestnut Ridge Park, south of Buffalo, a short trail leads to a small waterfall on Shale Creek. In a grotto at its base, a small flame flickers behind the falling water.
The flame sometimes goes out, and visitors often relight it.
Explanations offered
Natural gas seeps out through cracks in the shale and feeds the flame. Studies have found the gas is unusually rich in ethane and propane and suggest it rises from deeper, older rock along faults, rather than from the shale right beneath the falls.
- When
- Ongoing
- Where
- Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, New York, USA
- Witnesses
- Hikers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.